Preparing And Presenting Posters

Preparing and Presenting Posters
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A poster presentation is “an experiential learning activity that stimulates curiosity and interest, encourages exploration and integration of concepts and provides students with a novel way of demonstrating understanding” (Handron, 1994, in Bracher, Cantrell & Wilkie, 1998). Posters are often used to display complex ideas in a concise manner to an audience consisting of multiple people. Conferences, for instance, often allow delegates to submit and present posters, instead of giving formal presentations or talks. In conferences, the posters are displayed throughout the entire conference in a communal area of the conference location (e.g. in the reception hall) – the audience can view them at their leisure, while specific times are usually dedicated to poster presentations, whereby the poster designers will stand next to their poster and interact with any audience member who shows an interest in the poster. The main aim here is to draw in an audience and have good discussions with them about the topic of your poster – this is a great way to showcase your work and gain useful contacts at the same time, so it is a valuable activity to practice while still at university.
Posters can be designed for any purpose, e.g. to replace an academic paper or essay. A paper or essay presents all the information the author wants to present, while a poster uses visual aids to present only the most important information.
Posters:
Develop your communication and creativity skills;
Are a creative alternative to the traditional essay, report or paper;
Encourage you to thoroughly investigate the topic;
Enable your peers to also learn from your research (without them having to read a entire essay!) (Berry & Houston, 1995);
Engage visual learners (Summers, 2005)